Joystiqhttp://www.joystiq.com
Joystiqhttp://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifJoystiqhttp://www.joystiq.com
en-usCopyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/13/popcap-hit-with-layoffs-after-recent-studio-split/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/13/popcap-hit-with-layoffs-after-recent-studio-split/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/13/popcap-hit-with-layoffs-after-recent-studio-split/#commentsPlants vs Zombies and Peggle developer PopCap suffered layoffs today, EA confirmed. The news follows a reorganization at the studio in late February, which saw the developer split into a two teams, one geared towards mobile games and the other for console releases. PopCap CEO David Roberts also stepped down and was replaced by co-founder John Vechey in January.

"The changes we made today at PopCap were painful and we're sorry to lose some of our friends and colleagues," EA wrote in an email to Joystiq. "But it was also necessary in order to stay on course with our future plans for mobile games, live services, and new IP. PopCap is a studio that made its name building great games that the world can fall in love with, and that's what we'll continue to do."

Ubisoft is planning on putting a two-for-one stock split to a vote at its September 22 annual meeting, Reuters reports. The French publisher's shares closed at €66.64 last Friday.

We checked with analyst extraordinaire Michael Pachter to find out what this stock split means. Poking his head up from charts and graphs - flicking his abacus a few times just for show - he simply said, "It's not really a big deal." Pachter explains that commissions are higher if an investor buys fewer than 100 shares so: 100 shares at €65 requires €6500 in funds, or around $10,000. Since individual investors don't like investing that much in a single stock, by splitting the stock, the cost of 100 shares is cut to around $5000.

That explained, Pachter turned his attention with giddy anticipation to the crystal ball he just received from Mystics 'R' Us in Eastern Europe and concluded, "It's really that simple."